Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

ive seen a few around on other boards but ive seen only 1 person doing it on this board. my dad is retiring in a year or two and is looking at this kit for him and i to do possibly(or he might just cop out and buy a new vette) either way, what tools did you use?is there much welding to the kit? did you have to custom make anything? ive seen a few blogs and lots of pics but not much info on what exactly the processes are to building this thing.

just to clarify, we have never built a car from teh ground up, but we both have some good mechanical knowledge, like neither of us is afraid of diving in the motor to fix something(i might be a little lazy on the matter but thats something else) the only thing that makes me nervous is the wiring...

slammer454

Idon't own one but from my knowledge There is no welding required for the kit, and its supposed to use simple hand tools to assemble. Most of the work is sanding down the gelcoat and prepping for paint. No customwork is involved, basically just abolt together kit, also use and LS series motor from the later years, they're more efficent and supposedly fit better into the bay.

jmf003

iTrader: (4)

I'm building a GTM with my son. So far we're only up to the donor tear-down phase but I can tell you what I know about your questions.

FFR has a pretty comprehensive manual that covers the disassembly of the donor and the assembly of the kit. So far we haven't hit any problem that we couldn't figure out between scratching our heads and reading the manual. FFR will sell you one for $50 plus $5 shipping.

No welding is required if you stick with the stock design. If you venture into your own design, for example using a non-Porsche tranny, that could drag you into welding.

Also, you don't need to make any custom parts as long as you stick to the stock design. We're going our own route on seats and seat belts so we'll need to figure out the mounts on our own. Other than that, we're staying stock.

The required tools are pretty basic. Sockets, torx bits, engine hoist. Nothing exotic.

The supposed scoop on the wiring harness is that it's time consuming but not that difficult. There is at least one company that sells a custom wiring harness for the GTM though. We're going that route and plan to sell our donor car harness to offset a small part of the cost.

As slammer wrote, painting is supposed to be the single biggest chore. Quite a few builders contract out the entire painting task. Others do all the prep work but contract out the final steps. That's probably what we're going to do. And of course some folks do all the paint work themselves.

It's a big project but one of the keys, I think, is don't rush it. Just take it one day at a time, working on it when you can and enjoying the work as you do it.

It's also useful to visit their shop if you live nearby or can manage to swing a vacation to New England.

Good luck with your decision!

Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

i know hes saving for either the kit or a new car, im trying to convince his to the kit. i think the fact theres no customization or welding since we both dont know how to weld, but we can do basic things like bolt ons and such. hes thinking on just putting in a stock motor but i want to make this thing a beast, like a h/c/i 346 that spins a high amount and forge it. id have to do alot more research about the topic, but starting wit hthe manual you mentioned sounds like a good idea, and lurking in the porsche forums for info on the tranny. thanks for the insight, and i want pics of the build!

the biggest headache sounds like the wiring harness, and the interior in terms of getting the a/c and stereo in there. I like the idea that the car is a minimalist performance car, manual steering rack, a real street beast. again good luck with the build and thanks for the encouragement

gtpvette

iTrader: (2)

I'm a year into my build,,,, and hoping to getthe car fired up here in the next couple of months. As for me,,, I've never built a car before so a lot of this is new. No real special tools required and you only need a welder if you want to modify things. You may want to check out the FFR GTM Owners forum. Lots of good info there. BTW,,, if you are your father are ever in the greater Ft, Lauderdale area,, get in touch and you can check mine out.

http://www.ffcobra.com/ubb/ultimateb...orum/f/35.html

Thanks

Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

we're about 30 minutes outside of orlando, but i have a few friends that live down in that area. im ight come check it out, what kind of leg room is there, is it similar to a vette? im a 6-5 260lbs piece of meat...

also, looking at your setup, what headers did you end up using?

gtpvette

iTrader: (2)

At 6'5" it will be tight. I'm 6'1" 220lbs,,, 32 inseam,,, and I'm looking into building a custom seat to allow for the most headroom. I'm not saying you wont fit,,, but you should try it before you buy.

As for headers,,, just finished up building some as there are none currently available. The is a guy out of NY that is working with Kooks trying to get a set produced. There are a few picture of what I built:

http://www.ffcobra.com/ubb/ultimateb.../t/001234.html

Thanks!

crafty888

I'm trying to find a manufacturer to do a run of headers for an Ultima GTR. I think they will fit a GTM too.

Can someone give me the dimensions of the GTM chassis with clearances to the block where the collectors would be... in line with the trans adaptor plate

Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

could you use a c6 donor and ls2?

jmf003

iTrader: (4)

The good news is, the LS2 will work fine. The bad news is, the C6 parts, especially the suspension, won't fit the kit as designed. You might be able to cut and weld to get everything to fit but it'd probably be cheaper to part out the C6 and buy C5 parts.

Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

good to know, im starting to get a vibe from him that he wants a mk3 roadster, which is still going to be fun, just not as much for me. o well, a couple years out of college i plan to build one along with buying a house <25 years old and be married to my gf, its going to be a busy 5 years

jmf003

iTrader: (4)

Great work on the headers! Really awesome.

How do you like the black paint, if you don't mind me asking? We've been working through our color choices and saw the black GTM that FFR has at their shop. I thought it looked really sharp.

gtpvette

iTrader: (2)

Thanks,,,, I'm hoping the header work out. Actually,,, the picture in my signature is the FFR car,,,, I'm still working on the chassis. I really like the black,,, but I'm thinking red for my car. Im just afriad no one will see the car with the small frontal area and it blending into the asphault (sp?) and they turn in front of me. I had this happen to me already in another car! The red they won't miss.

Thanks!

Hennytime

iTrader: (33)

if i ever get one its going nbm to atch the fbody

neodamonkey

iTrader: (7)

How tall are you? Do you have any friends around 6'4-6'5 that can sit in the car to see if they fit. Im about 6'4 1/2 220lbs and want to see if i will be able to fit in the car before i sell my vette to build one

gtpvette

iTrader: (2)

I'm aout 6' - 6'1" and there is not a lot of headroom. The question becomes how much do you want to lay down in the chassis? I'm planning reworked seats to help. You may want to check here:

http://www.ffcobra.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42

It's the GTM owners forum,,,, I do believe there are GTM's in the Houston area,,, if not there are a bunch in Dallas.

Thanks!